DUBAI: The Russian news outlet Kommersant reported that two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border, in what would be a spectacular coup for Kyiv if confirmed.
Kommersant, a respected, independent business-focused daily, said on its website that the Su-34 fighter-bomber, Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters had made up a raiding party, and had been “shot down almost simultaneously” in an ambush in the Bryansk region, adjoining northeast Ukraine.
“According to preliminary data ... the fighters were supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were there to back them up — among other things to pick up the ‘Su’ crews if they were shot down.”
The Russian state news agency TASS said a Russian Su-34 warplane had crashed in that region but did not specify a cause.
TASS also cited an emergency services official as saying an engine fire in a helicopter had caused it to crash near Klintsy, which is about 40 km (25 miles) from the border.
It made no mention of the Su-35, or of a second helicopter.
However, a video posted on the Russian pro-war Telegram channel Voyenniy Osvedomitel, which has about half a million followers, showed a helicopter high in the sky suffering an explosion, being thrown off course and then plunging toward the ground in flames.
Comments accompanying the video, which Reuters could not immediately verify, said it showed a Mi-8 being shot down by a missile. Other images posted by the channel showed wreckage in an agricultural field.
Kommersant provided no evidence for its report that four aircraft had been downed, but the same assertion was also made by several heavily followed pro-war military bloggers.
The Moscow Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Voyenniy Osvedomitel said it appeared that “most likely, the enemy staged an ambush with air defenses previously transferred to a border zone close enough to hit our group.”
It said the downed helicopters appeared to be Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare craft able to jam enemy radio and targeting signals.
Kommersant said all four crews had been killed.
There was no official response from Ukraine, which usually declines to comment on reports of attacks inside Russia.
However, in a tweet, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the incident “Justice ... and instant karma.”
Four Russian military aircraft shot down near Ukraine, Russian daily reports
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Four Russian military aircraft shot down near Ukraine, Russian daily reports
- Kommersant, a respected, independent business-focused daily, said on its website that the Su-34 fighter-bomber, Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters had made up a raiding party
- The Russian state news agency TASS said a Russian Su-34 warplane had crashed in that region but did not specify a cause
Myanmar troops under armed attack flee across border: Thai military
- A group of Myanmar soldiers fled across the Thai border on Friday after an assault by an ethnic armed group ousted them from their base, Thailand’s military said
Myanmar has been riven by civil war after the military seized power in a 2021 coup, with the junta fighting an array of armed ethnic organizations and pro-democracy partisans.
Fighters from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) attacked the Pulu Tu frontier military base in the early hours of Friday, the Thai military said.
“The Myanmar military defended the base but ultimately the KNLA successfully seized control,” it said in a statement.
“Several Myanmar soldiers were killed and some fled across the border into Thailand.”
The statement did not specify how many Myanmar soldiers had crossed the border into Thailand’s Tak province but said they had been “provided humanitarian assistance.”
KNLA forces seized the base around 3:00 am (2030 GMT Thursday), according to a spokesman for the organization’s political wing, the Karen National Union.
The KNLA fighters took the base after Myanmar troops “abandoned their guns and ran into Thailand,” it said.
A spokesman for the Myanmar junta could not be reached for comment.
The Pulu Tu base is around 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the border town of Myawaddy, a vital trade node that became a battleground between anti-junta fighters and the military last year.
The region is also the epicenter of the scam-center boom in Myanmar, where thousands of foreign nationals trawl the Internet for victims to trick with romance or investment schemes.
Many workers say they were trafficked into the centers and thousands have been repatriated through Thailand in recent weeks under mounting international pressure.
The KNLA has been fighting for decades to establish greater autonomy for the Karen people living along Myanmar’s southeastern flank.
It is among dozens of ethnic armed organizations, already active before the coup, which have proved the most effective fighting forces against the junta.
While the military has suffered substantial territorial losses, analysts say it remains strong in Myanmar’s heartland, with an air force capable of inflicting punishing losses on its adversaries.
The junta issued a conscription order a year ago to boost its embattled ranks, allowing it to call up all men aged 18-35 for military service.
Fire aboard US airliner after diverted to Denver, 12 injured
- An American Airlines jet caught fire after landing at Denver International Airport in Colorado on Thursday, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said
WASHINGTON: An American Airlines jet caught fire after landing at Denver International Airport in Colorado on Thursday, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
There were 172 passengers and six crew members aboard, the airliner said, according to local media.
Denver International Airport said in a post on social media platform X that all passengers were safely evacuated from the plane but 12 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.
Dramatic video images widely shared on social media showed billowing smoke around the jet on the ground near the terminals and passengers standing on a wing as emergency services arrived.
The FAA said American Airlines Flight 1006, flying from Colorado to Dallas-Fort Worth, diverted to Denver International Airport after the crew reported experiencing “engine vibrations.”
“After landing and while taxiing to the gate an engine caught fire and passengers evacuated the aircraft using the slides,” the FAA said in a statement.
The latest incident comes amid concerns about safety after a series of incidents and attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to cut costs at US aviation agencies.
The FAA said it will investigate the latest incident.
Tesla warns it could face retaliatory tariffs
- Tesla says it is important to ensure that the Trump administration’s efforts to address trade issues “do not inadvertently harm US companies.”
WASHINGTON: US automaker Tesla has warned that it and other major American exporters are exposed to retaliatory tariffs that could be leveled in response to President Donald Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs.
The Tesla comments reflect those of many US businesses concerned by Trump’s tariffs, but is notable because it is from Tesla.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, has been leading the White House effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The billionaire heads up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The comments were made in a letter to the US Trade Representative’s Office and available on the office’s web site. Dated Tuesday, it is among hundreds sent by companies to the office about US trade policy.
It is not clear who at Tesla wrote the letter, which is unsigned but is on a company letterhead. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Tesla says it is important to ensure that the Trump administration’s efforts to address trade issues “do not inadvertently harm US companies.”
It says it is eager to avoid retaliation of the type it faced in prior trade disputes, which resulted in increased tariffs on electric vehicles imported into countries subject to US tariffs.
“US exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions,” Tesla said in the letter. “For example, past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on EVs imported into those countries.”
Trump is considering imposing significant tariffs on vehicles and parts made around the world in early April.
Tesla warns that even with aggressive localization of the supply chain, “certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the United States.”
The automaker adds that companies will “benefit from a phased approach that enables them to prepare accordingly and ensure appropriate supply chain and compliance measures are taken.”
“As a US manufacturer and exporter, Tesla encourages USTR to consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices,” the EV maker says.
Autos Drive America, a trade group representing major foreign automakers including Toyota, Volkswagen , BMW, Honda and Hyundai , warned USTR in separate comments that imposing “broad-based tariffs will disrupt production at US assembly plants.”
The group added, “automakers cannot shift their supply chains overnight, and cost increases will inevitably lead to some combination of higher consumer prices, fewer models offered to consumers and shut-down US production lines, leading to potential job losses across the supply chain.”
More shots fired at Oregon Tesla dealership in ongoing vandalism since Musk began advising Trump
- The shooting caused extensive damage to cars and showroom windows, police said
- Tesla has been a target for demonstrations and vandalism in the US and elsewhere this year
TIGARD, Oregon: Gunshots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon on Thursday for the second time in a week in ongoing vandalism and protests around the country since CEO Elon Musk became a key figure in the Trump administration.
Around 4:15 a.m., more than a dozen shots were fired around the electric vehicle dealership in the Portland suburb of Tigard, according to the Tigard Police Department. The shooting caused extensive damage to cars and showroom windows, police said. No one was hurt.
A similar shooting happened on March 6 at the same location. Police said they continue to work with federal partners at the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives to thoroughly investigate. An ATF explosive detection dog has been used after both shootings to help search for shell casings, police said.
Tesla has been a target for demonstrations and vandalism in the US and elsewhere this year. People have protested Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has been moving to slash the size of the federal government.
Police said over the weekend that six Tesla Cybertrucks at a dealership in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood were spray painted with swastikas and profanity directed at Musk, KING-TV reported.
On Sunday, four Cybertrucks were destroyed in a blaze in Seattle, but investigators have not said if the fire, or fires, were intentionally set. On Tuesday, the Seattle Police Department said it was working with federal partners to investigate the incident.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was buying a new Tesla to show his support for Musk as the billionaire’s company struggles with sagging sales and declining stock prices.
All eyes on Democrats as US barrels toward shutdown deadline
WASHINGTON: The US government, already shaken by Donald Trump’s radical reforms, could begin shutting down entirely this weekend as Democrats grapple with the option of opposing the president’s federal funding plans — at the risk this blows up in their faces.
With a Friday night deadline to fund the government or allow it to start winding down its operations, the Senate is set for a crunch vote ahead of the midnight cut-off on a Trump-backed bill passed by the House of Representatives.
The package would keep the lights on through September, but Democrats are under immense pressure from their own grassroots to defy Trump and reject a text they say is full of harmful spending cuts.
“If it shuts down, it’s not the Republicans’ fault. We passed a bill... If there’s a shutdown, even the Democrats admit it will be their fault,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
A handful of Democrats in Trump-supporting states — worried that they would be blamed over a stoppage with no obvious exit ramp — appear ready to incur the wrath of their own supporters by backing down.
But the vote remains on a knife edge, with many Democrats yet to reveal their decision.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who voted against a bill to avert a shutdown as recently as 18 months ago, urged the minority party to “put partisan politics aside and do the right thing.”
“When the government shuts down, you have government employees who are no longer paid, you have services that begin to lag. It brings great harm on the economy and the people,” he told Fox News.
The funding fight is focused on opposition to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), unofficially spearheaded by tech mega-billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk, which is working to dramatically reduce the size of the government.
DOGE aims to cut federal spending by $1 trillion this year and claims to have made savings so far of $115 billion through lease terminations, contract cancelations and firing federal workers.
Its online “wall of receipts” accounts for a tiny portion of that total, however, and US media outlets have found its website to be riddled with errors, misleading math and exaggerations.
Grassroots Democrats, infuriated by what they see as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s lawless rampage through the federal bureaucracy, want their leaders to stand up to DOGE and Trump.
The funding bill is likely to need support from at least eight Democrats in the Senate, but its Republican authors ignored the minority party’s demands to protect Congress’s authority over the government’s purse strings and rein in Musk.
Washington progressive representative Pramila Jayapal told CNN there would be a “huge backlash” against Senate Democrats supporting the bill.
Several top Democrats have warned, however, that a shutdown could play into Musk’s hands, making further lay-offs easier and distracting from DOGE’s most unpopular actions, which just this week has included firing half the Education Department’s workforce.
“Now it’s a (bill) that we all agree we don’t like — but for me we can’t ever allow the government to shut down,” Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senator John Fetterman told CNN, warning that a recession could follow.
Republicans control 53 seats in the 100-member Senate.
Legislation in the upper chamber requires a preliminary ballot with a 60-vote threshold — designed to encourage bipartisanship — before final passage, which only needs a simple majority.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told his members privately on Thursday he will vote yes at the preliminary stage, according to congressional media outlet Punchbowl News.
He and Fetterman are the only Democrats committed to allowing the bill to move forward, and Schumer has not ordered his members to follow suit.
But others could cross the aisle if Republicans allow amendment votes on their legislative priorities.
Each would fail, but it is a face-saving exercise that would allow Democrats to tell their activists at home that they fought for their principles.
It is not clear however that this would shield them from the criticism that they bent the knee to Trump and Musk.
